Who are Jon and Carrie Hallford? Colorado funeral home owner, wife arrested on charges linked to mishandling of 189 dead bodies
FREMONT COUNTY, COLORADO: Jon Hallford, owner of a funeral home, along with his wife Carrie Hallford have been arrested after the cadavers of at least 189 people were found at his Colorado facility in early October.
District Attorney Michael J Allen stated in a press release that the couple was arrested in Wagoner, Oklahoma, on suspicion of four felonies: abuse of a corpse, money laundering, theft, and forgery.
According to a source who spoke to the NYPost, Jon Hallford, owner of ‘Return to Nature Funeral Home’ in Penrose, was detained in jail in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, however, there are no records that indicate his wife Carrie also being held there.
How did the police find the decaying bodies?
‘Return to Nature Funeral Home’ was advertised as an 'eco-friendly' mortuary in Penrose, a small town about 160 kilometers south of Denver.
Authorities discovered the decaying bodies on October 4 after receiving a report about an "abhorrent smell" inside the company’s dilapidated building.
The day after the odor was reported, the director of the state office responsible for Funeral Home and Crematory registration spoke with Jon Hallford, the owner, over the phone.
Hallford attempted to hide the fact that corpses were being improperly stored in Penrose.
However, he acknowledged the existence of a "problem" at the site and claimed that he practiced taxidermy there, based on an order issued by state officials on October 5.
Upon removal of all the remains in mid-October, the official count went from an original estimate of around 115 bodies to 189 bodies that were stored inside the building.
Reason for gross negligence of the dead
Despite facing financial and legal challenges, the company ‘Return to Nature Funeral Home’ which started in 2017, continued to offer cremations and green" burials without embalming fluids.
The owners missed tax payments in recent months, were evicted from one of their properties, and were sued for unpaid bills by a crematory that stopped doing business with them almost a year ago.
Colorado has one of the weakest systems of oversight for funeral homes in the country. There are no mandatory inspections or qualifications required for those who operate funeral homes.
The Penrose Funeral Home's registration expired in November 2022, but state regulators did not visit the site or contact Jon Hallford until 11 months later.
Although state lawmakers granted regulators the power to inspect funeral homes without the owners' permission last year, no additional funds have been allocated for increased inspections thus far.